Texan Mosaic

by STEVEN GEHEGAN//Editorial Assistant

In one of the most modern countries in the world, the way we elect our president is outdated.

It’s 2016, and the way we elect our president and vice president is confusing and does not always reflect the way the voters feel. In the Electoral College, there is a total of 538 electors. The first candidate to get the majority of the vote, which is 270, wins election.

We pride ourselves on being a democracy. But when certain votes are not accounted for, that does not reflect well on our country. To have a true democracy, every person’s vote should matter, not just the majority of the state. When you vote in smaller elections, such as city council or mayor, the vote of everyone in the district matters. With the technology that we have today, it should not be hard for the government to switch to a new system, a system that would count everyone’s vote that went out and voted for the president.

The way that the voting system works could be discouraging people to vote. In certain states, such as Texas, which always seems to vote Republican, and California, which always seems to vote Democratic, that might discourage people who have opposite views from going out to vote. What would be the point of voting for a Democratic candidate in the state of Texas, when the majority of the state votes Republican? When you vote that way in Texas, your vote does not go toward helping your candidate. We should be able to vote for the person who we want and have it actually matter.

There are some states that are considered “swing states,” such as Florida and Ohio were this time. Your vote could win the state. But winning a state should not show how everyone in the country feels.

When people start to feel like their voice on the presidential elections does not matter, it can start to create more hatred toward the government. It also does not help that the Electoral College is not easy to understand. When your voting process takes more than two minutes to explain to someone who does not understand the electoral system, it is too complicated. The voting process should be as simple as checking a box or pushing a button on a computer, not a process where it takes all night to figure out who won an East Coast state.  As long as the Electoral College is in place, there are problems. Trying to keep up with the popular vote really does not matter that much.

We need to fix the voting system so that voices can be heard. When there is a situation where the popular vote does not reflect the Electoral College, there should be a movement to fix the Electoral College. As long as we keep the Electoral College, there could be an inaccurate reading of what the country thinks its leaders should be.